This invention relates to fitments for injection devices of the kind in which injection liquid is delivered through a hollow needle. Such devices are used for injecting humans, animals, trees, fruit or vegetables, for example.
Farmers have for many years given routine oral drenches of anthelminthics to suppress the effects of intestinal and other parasitic worms in cattle, sheep and pigs. However these drenches only become effective after a relatively long period. Although it has recently become possible to achieve the same effect in a much shorter space of time by injecting the animal, there has been a reluctance by farmers to use the new method. This is because it is not usual to sterilize the site of injection either before or after injection. Moreover the same needle is often used for injecting a large number of animals without sterilizing the needle between each injection, in view of the large number of animals which have to be injected at one time, so that the site of injection often becomes infected leading to an abscess. Also, especially with sheep, there are several routine injections given to stop various clostridial complications, and each time the animal is injected it increases the risk of rejection of the carcass for human consumption due to abscesses. It is an object of this invention to provide injection devices of the kind referred to with fitments which enable the devices to be used by farmers to inject a large number of animals in a short space of time whilst minimising any subsequent infection at the site of injection.